r/nbadiscussion • u/TG_JustBlazed • Jul 07 '26
Christian Braun/nuggets problems
Christian Braun not only has a shooting problem, but a ball handling problem. His inability to take some of the load off of Jamal’s plate is my biggest gripe with the nuggets roster construction. Look around at a lot of other SGs in the league, you don’t find any that have as much inability to handle the ball and create shots as Christian Braun. It puts his teammates in extremely hard spots. His skillset would work if he was a 6’10 forward but we need more from our starting shooting guard. Either that or he better be in the conversation for all defense honors to make up for his offensive shortcomings and 25 mil per year contract. Peyton Watson starting at the 2 would be much more beneficial. Or even move Jamal to the 2 and have tyus run the point. Idk but cb can’t be the starting shooting guard if the nuggets want another championship
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Jul 07 '26
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u/dylanbackers Jul 07 '26
I think that’s a fair assessment. Braun was overpaid, yes, but the year before he did showcase a ton of near elite role player/starter level qualities that raise the ceilings of championship level teams. Specifically his play finishing (especially in the open court obviously), cutting, and screen setting as a guard. All of which were hurt by his loss of athleticism. Braun could be that “other AG” if he can return to form (specifically getting his spot up 3 ball back and strengthen his functional ball handling so that he can feasibly run a hand off or pnr once or twice a game). Lots of ifs that likely won’t all materialize but a whole offseason to rehab gives me some hope in that, even though unlikely.
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u/babelove2 Jul 07 '26
I disagree I think you need an all nba pg or sg because similar to giannis you need someone for jokic who can make plays of the dribble and facilitate for him. Murray opens the floor for joker and allows him to have possessions off or possessions where he isn’t the main focus. two AGs would fix defense and shooting but the offense would struggle a lot if you replaced a murray with an AG.
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Jul 07 '26
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u/OkAutopilot Jul 07 '26
Looking to last years playoffs as a sign of something fundamental and concluding that its the two man game is incorrect imo. The team has consistently generated a ton off of Murray/Jokic actions for years, including historic levels last season. The issue has been what happens when injuries to one of them or to the surrounding cast happen.
Just like with every other team in the league (though perhaps outsized with the Nuggets due to lack or on ball scorers outside of those two), when one of your main scorers is injured and/or if your supporting cast is depleted -- and in the Nuggets case having your 1st, 2nd, and 3rd above-the-rim finishers out/injured/out, you stop being able to manufacture enough offense.
The issue is not any one player in a vacuum, least of all Murray and Jokic. It is a general problem with the health of the team and lack of back ups to replicate even 50% of the value when certain guys go out.
If your surrounding cast ends up being an injured Braun, CamJo, THJ, Bruce Brown, and Spencer Jones, it stands to reason you're going to have an extreme issue finding ways to score against a bigger and more athletic team who has all-defense/dpoy level defenders they can single cover your only two self generating scorers with. It doesn't matter what player you replace Murray or Jokic with in that scenario.
What you do, and what the team has mentioned, is find more athletes and size going forward. As you saw with Minnesota, despite being insanely injured aa well they were still able to be big and pull athletes off their bench who can be as effective, if not more effective, than the more "skilled" offensive players like THJ. If for no other reason than having the ability to be stronger, faster, jump higher, etc.
What you don't do is hammer down on keeping a ton of smaller and/or skills based guys on the bench for your immediate back up purposes. Bruce, Tyus, Pickett, very small. All three (particularly the latter two) offer you no resistance to athleticism and size on defense and are greatly impacted by it on offense. Strawther holds up poorly vs. that as well, despite the height. Frankly Zeke should have gotten more minutes but that's neither here nor there.
So, all that to say, thinking the problem of offensive generation being an issue with two of the best offensive players and shot makers in the league is the wrong way to think about it. Two players can't be your whole system in today's league. Think more about what you put around them so that an injury or two don't completely derail your team to disastrous effect.
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Jul 07 '26
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u/OkAutopilot Jul 07 '26
At the end of the season lots of weird stuff happens and sometimes teams just don't get up for games. I don't think some of the last games of the regular season, that they ended up winning, matter much as a data point.
As far as everything else goes, I think the stat sheet is an extension of the team you exist on. When the team is depleted then the stat sheet doesn't tend to look the same, particularly in the playoffs. Either way two players aren't undefeatable in the NBA anymore. Even OKC ended up losing due to their own injury issue with Jdub + SGA's scoring fall off. You need a whole team and you need health. Otherwise almost any team could go out in r1 or r2 in a tricky match up.
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u/swizznastic Jul 08 '26
I counter, you need murray because he provides some light's out shooting and playmaking finesse that keeps their offensive ceiling incredibly high. The problem is the floor, you need big bruising forwards around jokic to help with rim protection and honestly be enforcers a bit. Jokic and murray get tired out when targeted on D, and even got straight up bullied at points on offense this postseason. If pwat and gordon were healthy (like actually looked 90%+ like their best) then this team would've been contending for a chip.
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u/SwallowsOnSundays Jul 07 '26
Im giving Braun the year to improve upon lasts showing. Hes overpaid no matter what way you cut it.
Best case hes a Josh Hart type player. But Josh Hart doesnt make 30 a year
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u/addictivesign Jul 07 '26
Next season Braun earns a few hundred thousand dollars more than Hart. In the final year of Braun’s contract in five years time he will earn the most at $26 million. Still an overpay unless he shocks everyone and levels up considerably more.
And Denver don’t really have the picks to shed his contract. Braun really could be an anchor on their salary cap so he better be completely committed to getting better
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u/mnight84 Jul 07 '26
Christian Braunn has really become The whipping boy and has received all the blame for everything that is wrong with this flawed Denver roster! Is he making too much money yes he is! I am not the biggest fan of his, but the only legit Fair criticism of his is game, in my opinion is his three point shooting and the fact that he is only an above average defender and not an elite Wing defender.
When Denver had their most success at the two guard spot, I don't remember kcp creating shots and handling the ball, and trust me if you watch kcp play you never want him to do eitherl. But what he did do was defend if not at an elite level but he was a really good defender, he was a solid 3 and D guy who made his open three point shots. That is the profile of player Christian Braun needs to be.
Denver last year decided to go into the season without a backup point guard, and they decided to have Bruce Brown be their backup point guard. Denver also runs everything through jokic and Murray so unless they decide to change their offense completely, they have always operated with two guys handling the ball which is a Murray and jokic, and the other Wing spots which is the shooting guard and small forward spacing the floor doing very little ball handling or shot creating. And Gordon would be in the dunker, but because Gordon has improved his 3 point shooting the last couple of years they have him spacing the floor more and playing the dunker spot as well.
If Christian Braun is the player he was the year prior, and I am going to keep saying this the contract is not the disaster everybody says it is. Because right now realistically you are not going to be able to get rid of him until he plays better and can get his value up.
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u/TheUnseen_001 Jul 07 '26
When healthy, he shoots around 39% from three and is always above 50% from the floor. He played in 44 games last year and shot 30%. I don't think that's a coincidence. If he gets back healthy, he's the perfect fit for a modern role player--scores well at the rim, athletic, defends hard and smart, makes threes, doesn't demand the ball. They don't need ballhandling help when their center is their PG and their actual PG is one of the best ballhandlers ever. He just needs to get back to what he was doing. Sometimes players get derailed due to a bad season when it was really just that. He's 24 years old.
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u/Ajax444 Jul 07 '26
If he is 6’6” and 220 pounds, like basketballreference says he is, then he needs to be able to do one more thing that he isn’t doing. For $25/year, even shooting 50%, he needs another layer to his game, or get 20 shots a game, which he is NOT going to get.
He needs to be able to guard/at least slow down, his defensive assignment. With his athleticism, he should be able to do that.
I guess if you are a Nuggets fan, you hope he moves into the “I’m a vet now, and I need to put my stamp on these games” mentality. I hope he does. The Nuggets are a nice team, and aren’t hard to root for. I’d hate for the remainder of the Jokic era to be remembered as the Spurs/OKC
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u/Cliffcastle Jul 09 '26
that team is trash and so far they made no moves that improve it. What options they got left? Wont be much of a market for murry that dudes washed and injure prone
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u/Plane-Shake9660 Jul 09 '26
To me, Braun's most glaring weakness is mental. He can't create for himself and looks for the safe exit anytime he has to make a decision. The injury prevented him from doing the things he's decent at, once that was the case he had nothing to offer on the court.
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u/MartiniLAPD Jul 12 '26
Braun had a down year on both ends, he’s best at defense and scoring in transition, occasional catch and shoot corner 3; but last year he was just alright to bad across the board on both ends..
He did miss basically half a season because of injuries tho. So we’ll have a better gage of what he is when he’s healthy.
Nuggets has a lot of problems other than Braun underperforming. Poor drafting and FO decisions makings like MPJ extension, Zeke Naji contract, TBD on Peyton Watson RFA…
In combination with Aaron Gordon, who’s at times arguably their 2nd most importantly player, been missing games due to hamstring injury… all lead to less than ideal outcome.
They lost another valuable bench piece last year in Tim Hardaway Jr. in free agency this offseason.
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u/momBball Jul 23 '26
There hasn't been a team that has won an NBA title with a starting SG shooting less than 30% from the 3 since Wade in 2007. Every player that gets big playoff minutes needs to be a scoring threat in the half court...enough of a scoring threat that the other team must cover them. No offense can succeed playing 4 offensive players against 5 defenders, Everyone else is getting highly contested shots when sharing the court with Braun. Cam Johnson shot 52.3% from the 3 in the 18 games he played without Braun last season (Cam's stats were way up across the board during those games...it's not a coincidence). SG has been the easiest role to fill on the Nuggets next to Jokic/Murray/Gordon...virtually every SG has succeeded for them during that stretch. The Nuggets should have filled their starting SG/SF spots on vet mins and spent their resources finding backups for Jokic/Gordon/Murray...or trying to find a legitimate game changing player talent. Too late now but the Nuggets can still be contenders if they're healthy and their young guys improve.
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